Shell Oil bad business

Last spring, Associated Students voted to boycott Shell Oil Co. In doing so, they joined Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and many other environmental, human rights and religious organizations.

Shell is supporting a brutal dictatorship in Nigeria, which has harassed, killed and executed many of the minority Ogoni people.

In 1978, the military declared that all land belonged to the government. and freed Shell from having to negotiate with the Ogoni people, who owned vast tracts of land with oil reserves.

In testimony before Congress, Steven Mills from the Sierra Club said, " ... Shell has extracted some $30 billion from the lands of the Ogoni people. While the royalties from these sales fill the coffers of the Nigerian military, the rich farmland of Ogoni has been laid waste by oil spills and the venting of toxic gases. Meanwhile, the Ogoni lack running water, electricity, adequate schools or health care."

A study by the World Wildlife Fund found said that petroleum operations in Nigeria are one of the world's largest contributors to global warming. Gas flaring in Ogoni villages has destroyed wildlife, plant life, poisoned the air and water and left residents half-deaf and prone to respiratory diseases.

Bopp van Dessel, Shell's former head of environmental studies confirmed the environmental devastation. He said, "Wherever I went I could see that Shell was not operating their facilities properly. They were not meeting their own standards, they were not meeting international standards. Any Shell site that I saw was polluted. Any terminal that I saw was polluted."

As a result of environmental and human rights violations, Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni leaders formed the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People. They brought the world's attention to their fight.

In 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa was convicted by a military tribune for inciting a riot, which resulted in the death of four people. Saro-Wiwa was miles away in another town at the time of the riot. Two of the most damaging witnesses in his military trial have admitted to lying because they were bribed by the military and Shell Oil Co.

According to Dr. Owens Wiwa, Shell Oil Co. allowed the execution of Saro-Wiwa when it could have stopped it. Shell offered to stop the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa if MOSOP would say their has been no environmental damage in Ogoniland. MOSOP refused and Ken Saro-Wiwa was hung Nov. 10, 1995.

Mills said, "Within hours of the execution, the Nigerian military had deployed some 4,000 troops throughout Ogoniland, beating anyone caught mourning in public. School headmasters were arrested as a warning not to discuss Saro-Wiwa in the classroom. Pastors were arrested because they prayed for Ken Saro-Wiwa."

This is clearly a case of, "You scratch my back and I will scratch yours." The military dictator gives the oil-rich lands of the Ogoni people to Shell, brutalizes them into submission; in return Shell makes them extremely rich and powerful. Boycott Shell!

[ Golden Gater Online October 3, 1996 ]

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